Norway is on track to be the first to go fully electric

Norway is a world leader in the adoption of electric cars, which last year accounted for nine out of every 10 new vehicles sold in the country. Can other nations learn from it?

For more than 75 years, Oslo-based car dealer Harald A Møller has imported Volkswagens, but at the beginning of 2024 he said goodbye to fossil fuel cars.

Now all passenger vehicles for sale in its showroom are electric (EV).

“We believe it is a mistake to advise a customer who comes today to buy a car with an internal combustion engine, because the future is electric,” says CEO Ulf Tore Hekneby, as he walks among the cars on display. “High charging speed and long range. It is difficult to retreat.”

On the streets of Norway’s capital, Oslo, battery-powered cars are not a novelty, they are the norm. Take a look around and you’ll soon notice that almost every other car has an “E” for “electric” on its license plate.

The Nordic nation of 5.5 million people has adopted electric vehicles faster than any other country and is poised to become the first to phase out the sale of new fossil fuel-powered cars.

Last year, the number of electric cars on Norwegian roads surpassed gasoline ones. for the first time. If diesel vehicles are included, electric cars account for almost a third of the total on Norwegian roads.

And 88.9% of new cars sold in the country last year They were electric vehicles, up from 82.4% in 2023, data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) showed.

In some months, sales of all-electric cars reached 98%, as purchases of new gasoline or diesel cars almost vanished.

On the contrary, in the United Kingdom electric cars constituted only 20% of new car registrations in 2024. Although this is a record, compared to 16.5% in 2023.

In the United States the figure was only 8% last year, up from 7.6%.

Norway is undoubtedly a pioneer in electric vehicles, but this electric revolution has been three decades in the making.

“It all started back in the early 1990s,” says Christina Bu, general secretary of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association, as she took me around Oslo in an electric minivan.

“Gradually more taxes are being imposed on cars with gasoline and diesel engines, so their purchase has become much more expensive, while electric cars are exempt from taxes.”

Electric vehicle support was first introduced to help two Norwegian manufacturers of early electric vehicles, Buddy (formerly Kewet) and TH!NK City. Although they closed, the incentives for greener vehicles remained.

“Our goal is to see that choosing zero emissions is always a good and viable option,” says Norway’s Deputy Transport Minister Cecilie Knibe Kroglund.

Although a major oil and gas producer, Norway aims for all new cars sold to be “zero emissions” by 2025. It set a non-binding target in 2017, and that milestone is now within reach.

“We are getting closer to the goal and I believe we will reach it,” adds Kroglund. “I think we’ve already made the transition to passenger cars.”

The key to Norway’s success has been predictable, long-term policies, he explains.

Instead of banning combustion engine vehicles, the government has controlled consumer choices. In addition to penalizing fossil fuel vehicles with higher taxes and registration fees, VAT and import duties for low-emission cars were eliminated.

A host of perks followed, including free parking, discounted tolls and access to bus lanes.

By comparison, the European Union plans to ban sales of new fossil fuel-powered cars by 2035, and the current UK government wants prohibit its sale in 2030.

Sales of gasoline and diesel cars are still allowed in Norway. But few choose to buy them.

For many locals, like Ståle Fyen, who bought his first electric vehicle 15 months ago, going electric made economic sense.

“With all the incentives we have in Norway, no taxes on electric vehicles, that was very important to us in terms of money,” he says as he plugs his car into a charging station in the capital.

“In the cold, the range is maybe 20% shorter, but still, with the extensive charging network we have here in Norway, that’s not a big problem,” adds Fyen. “You just have to change your mindset and attack when you can, not when you have to.”

Another driver, Merete Eggesbø, says that in 2014 she was one of the first people in Norway to own a Tesla. “I really wanted a car that didn’t pollute. It gave me a better awareness when driving.”

At Norwegian gas stations, many fuel pumps have been replaced by fast charging points, and there are now more than 27,000 public chargers throughout Norway.

This is compared to 73,699 in the UK – a country 12 times larger in terms of population.

That means that, for every 100,000 inhabitants, Norway has 447 chargers, while the United Kingdom has only 89. according to a recent report.

Tesla, VW and Toyota were the best-selling electric vehicle brands in Norway last year. Meanwhile, Chinese-owned brands such as MG, BYD, Polestar and XPeng now account for a combined 10% of the market, according to the Norwegian Road Federation.

Norway, unlike the United States and the EU, has not imposed tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles.

Ms Bu says there is “really no reason why other countries can’t copy Norway”. However, he adds that it is about “doing it in a way that can work in each country or market.”

Norwegians are no more concerned about the environment than people elsewhere, he believes. “I don’t think a green mindset has much to do with it. It has to do with strong policies and people gradually understanding that driving an electric car is possible.”

However, Norway is also a very wealthy nation, which thanks to its huge oil and gas exports, has a sovereign wealth fund valued at more than $1.7 trillion (£1.3 trillion). This means it can more easily afford large infrastructure construction projects and absorb lost tax revenue from the sale of gasoline and diesel cars and their fuel.

The county also has abundant renewable hydroelectric electricity, which represents 88% of its production capacity.

“A third of cars are now electric and within a few years it will exceed 50%,” says Kjell Werner Johansen of the Norwegian Transport Research Center. “I think the government accepts that some new petrol or hybrid cars will still be on the market, but I don’t know anyone today who wants to buy a diesel car.”